1 {scene: The dining car, on board a train from Berlin to Palermo}
1 Prof. Jones: I'll have the lobster bisque, followed by the filet mignon with truffle sauce, white asparagus, and saffron potatoes.
2 Waiter: Very good, sir. And some wine?
3 Prof. Jones: We'll try the Château Noir '23.
3 Waiter: Excellent choice, sir.
4 Monty: You certainly like living the high life, dad.
4 Prof. Jones: You're paying, right?

When train journeys are shown in movies or on TV, it's always the glamorous long distance stuff, with fancy dining cars and private cabins and so on.

I want to see a suave adventurer do a 70-minute commute standing shoulder-to-shoulder on a crowded urban train, while people next to him are yelling into their phones or flipping newspapers in his face. In summer. With the train air conditioning broken.

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2024-10-21 Rerun commentary: Is it just me or are waiters' opinions of how excellent your choice is correlated with the expense of the wine?